Yesterday at my part-time job, I was discussing with my manager my plans to start graduate school in January. When he asked me what I was going to study, I cheerfully replied that I was going to get my master's degree in Gender Studies. "What's that?" he asked.

"You know. Sort of like Women's Studies," I said, brilliantly describing my program of study.

"...What's that?" he asked again.

Dumbfounded, I ever so eloquently explained "Like...feminism and stuff?" (My admission is being rescinded right about...now.)

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!" he proclaimed a third time, now with his mouth open and his eyes wide. "You're a feminist?"

Yessir, I am! And proud of it. Which is why "Confessions of A Young Anti-Feminist," an article recently written by Josephine Asher on the Australian blog The Punch, offended me so deeply. The article makes feminism a scapegoat for many issues today, discussing the problems feminism has caused for relationships between men and women. But what I find most bizarre and troubling about Asher's article is that it isn't just anti-feminist, but nearly anti-woman. While I disagree with her anti-feminist stance, I'd be a tad more willing to hear her out were she to explain why she finds feminism so detrimental to women. In her opinion, women are hurting themselves by being feminists, but the far more important topic at hand is how the feminists are hurting men.

Over at Pure Poison (another Aussie blog), David Gaukroger writes that "Confessions of A Young Anti-Feminist" is a "collection of non sequitors...so stunningly wrong-headed that it is difficult to pick a place to start dissecting it." Asher blames feminism for, among other things: the Australian divorce rate, the number of Australian men who experience depression, and the "negative trend" oh hands-on fathers. She laments the fact that two thirds of Australian families have two incomes, and is horrified that women are suppressing their natural elegance and fragility. Wow, I didn't realize there was something wrong with being a strong woman with means. Remind me to tell my mom and aunts and friends, so they can fix that ASAP. Also remind me, please, to tell Asher herself, since the 29 year-old single woman is, I'm assuming, a strong woman with an income.